Agree 100% Larry. They should’ve contacted them as soon as they were able. And to discourage that is not acceptable. I have to assume the survivors contacted their families and, of course, Mallory couldn’t do that.A DNR agent literally told the mother of another of the kids, that night:
"We don't need to call Mallory's parents. We don't want to bring more confusion to this."
Sorry, but they lose all benefit of the doubt based on that alone.
Combine that with the established fact that Murdaughs were allowed onto the scene and no one else was, and there's no way to rationalize how LE handled things after the accident.
To quote Judge Newman, this family had access to the wheels of justice for a century. It's hard to make the case that the aftermath of the boat wreck was remotely a departure from this established pattern.
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I was speaking more to keeping them at a distance once they did get there. Probably should have had some dedicated to them throughout the search. I’m also not saying that JMM should’ve been allowed in the scene. I just can’t put all the blame on him and haven’t heard how the investigation was compromised by that.